Banner Season: T-Birds add to the championship trophy case in 2023-24

VANCOUVER – The most decorated athletic department in Canada had another banner year in 2023-24, bringing home nine national championships and an additional 12 conference championships.

The fall season produced one of the great weekends in Thunderbirds history. It started on Saturday, November 11^th with the football team pulling off a miraculous comeback in the Hardy Cup. Trailing Alberta in the final minute, the ‘Birds forced a turnover and went on a breathtaking drive down the field, culminating in a game winning touchdown as time expired for an almost unfathomable victory, sending Thunderbird Stadium in to a frenzy. That preceded the team’s first Vanier Cup appearance since 2015.

One sleep later, the T-Birds enjoyed a potentially unprecedented amount of success in a single day.

Within hours, the men’s rowing team, both the women’s and men’s cross country teams, and the women’s soccer team all won national championships; women’s soccer claiming victory with a goal in the final minute of extra time by U SPORTS Player of the Year Katalin Tolnai. This marked a record eight national titles for the decorated women’s soccer program. Women’s rowing captured silver and men’s soccer took bronze that day too. With four national titles and six national medals within 24 hours, November 12^th, 2023 is a date that will live on in Thunderbirds lore.

One week later, the T-Birds added another national title. Men’s rugby went down the road to Langley and dominated the competition at the Canadian University Men’s Rugby Championship, outscoring opponents by a combined 112-20 en route to winning their third straight Canadian crown and fourth in five years.

The T-Birds showed no signs of letting up in the winter-spring semester. In fact, UBC varsity teams started a combined 27-0 in January, not suffering their first setback of 2024 until late in the month.

When the next set of national championships arrived in March, the ‘Birds added another banner. After an unforgettable U SPORTS Final win over Trinity Western at War Memorial Gym in 2023, UBC women’s volleyball proved to be the best in the country once more in 2024. The T-Birds dropped only two total sets at the national championships in Hamilton, Ontario to secure their 14^th U SPORTS title, twice as many as the next most successful program in Canada.

Amid the slew of storied programs adding to their championship resumes came a new accomplishment for a UBC athlete: being drafted into the NFL. Guard Giovanni Manu became the first Thunderbird ever selected, and the first U SPORTS player chosen in nearly a decade, when the Detroit Lions traded up to take him midway through the fourth round, 126^th overall, at the draft in late April. He was not the only T-Bird to get a shot at playing football at the highest level, as minutes after the draft concluded fellow guard and two-time U SPORTS Most Outstanding Lineman Theo Benedet was signed by the Chicago Bears.

As the sports season wound down for most schools in May, the blue and gold were not done winning. UBC added an NAIA Championship courtesy of the women’s track and field team, which secured the title for the third straight year at the meet in Marion, Indiana. The victory was sealed by NAIA Track and Field Athlete of the Year Kiana Gibson, who posted an incredible performance on the final day of the event, winning both the 3000m steeplechase and the grueling 5000m race within a matter of hours. The men’s team just missed adding another banner, taking home silver.

Not to be forgotten within the wildly successful year were several thrilling conference championship victories.

Women’s swimming added a record 33^rd Canada West Championship in the fall, with both golf and cross- country teams taking CW titles as well. The aforementioned Hardy Cup win for football was paired with a fourth consecutive conference championship for women’s rugby. Many of those same rugby players won a second Canada West banner in Rugby 7s in the spring, claiming victory over their archrival Victoria Vikes in the final match of the final tournament in front of the home fans.

Also in the spring, women’s hockey capped a dominant season with their third straight conference championship and men’s hockey snapped a 53-year drought by winning a Canada West title as well. Women’s and men’s golf also maintained their perfect records in the Cascade Collegiate Conference, each winning their fourth championship in the four years that they’ve competed in the CCC while hosting the event in Blaine, Washington.